? About Requirements For Trucking Companies

Im looking at getting started in the next week or two. I have no criminal record what so ever and my driving record is spotless. What I’m worried about is my job history it’s not so great at all. How much will that effect me getting hired on by a company.

Probably very little unless it's really really bad. Just be prepared with dates of all jobs and any stretchs of unemployment, you may need to have a witness as well, someone who will sign a letter saying they know what you where upto.

Probably very little unless it's really really bad. Just be prepared with dates of all jobs and any stretchs of unemployment, you may need to have a witness as well, someone who will sign a letter saying they know what you where upto.

Thank you for the quick reply is it that serious that I have to get a letter. Wow I feel as if I’m applying to the secrete service lol

They want to make sure you didn't spend anytime in jail or something else. Generally all the letter will have to say is Josh was between jobs xxx date to xxx date signed by a non resident family member.

is it that serious?

Hello Joshua and welcome to our forum!

Your work history is very important. It's serious on a couple of different levels. Trucking takes a great deal of Commitment. Your job history tells a lot about what kind of commitments you make. If they have applicants who show a great work history that automatically sets them ahead of yours. They are not looking to train you and spend a lot of time with you only to have you quit in three months because you decided you didn't like trucking before you even had a chance to learn a little about it. The other thing they need to establish is Federally mandated to them by the office of Homeland Security. After 9/11 our government officials became concerned with internet chatter about terrorist using big trucks in a similar fashion as they had aircraft to wreak havoc on our economy. Whether we like it or not we are a highly regulated industry. They need timelines of your work history that are verifiable so they can make sure you haven't been in some training camp in Afghanistan or something bizarre like that. If you have big unverifiable gaps in your work history, your application goes in the trash.

Make sure you can and do explain any gaps. You can say, "I was unemployed and seeking employment." You might even say, "I was in school or at University." Maybe you can have a notarized letter from some friends who can verify what you were doing, but they need a timeline that accounts for what you were doing and where you were. Don't leave any unexplained gaps or you will be re-doing it again until you can show a good timeline with verifiable information on it.

Joshua,

I am also littered with large gaps in my job history. A few years ago it meant some companies would hire me, and others wouldn't. I suspect it'll be easier now since there is a driver shortage.

I am also littered with large gaps in my job history. A few years ago it meant some companies would hire me, and others wouldn't. I suspect it'll be easier now since there is a driver shortage.

Don't be fooled by talk of "driver shortages" as if that were some new phenomenon affecting the ability to land a trucking job. There has been talk of a driver shortage for decades now. This is still a safety sensitive job. It is still a highly regulated job. It is also a job that a lot of people think they want and then find they can't manage. It takes a great deal of sacrifice and commitment to make it as a truck driver.

There are many who get their first trucking job all excited and thinking they are about to be doing good. Unfortunately many of them find the demands of the job are way beyond their abilities. If there is a driver shortage it is not because of the economy, or Covid, or anything else beyond the challenges of a career that overwhelm most newbies. If it is easier to land a job in trucking right now, it is no less difficult to keep that job and make things happen in your favor out here.

Do not go into trucking thinking you can "fake it until you make it." It does not work that way.

Old School,

You almost make it sound like the guy might as well give up. I'm just letting him know there are probably companies that will hire him, and give him a chance, since they did for me. Of course, whether they give him a chance or not is independent of whether he can handle it, or that it fits him.

You almost make it sound like the guy might as well give up.

Not my intention at all Chris.

whether they give him a chance or not is independent of whether he can handle it, or that it fits him.

That is exactly the distinction I was trying to establish. Many people think their biggest hurdle is just landing a job in trucking. The bigger majority of new drivers find that even though they can land a job, they had unrealistic expectations of the career. That reality bites, and it hits most of us like a ton of bricks. I was merely trying to set some realistic ideas before the both of you. I am going to respond to your question in another thread about driver pay a little later today. I have some other obligations this morning, but I will be back to help you understand the disparity in driver's pay that you asked about.

Chris, are you a driver? Who are you driving for? How much experience do you have?

I'm not trying to be nosy, we just want to get to know you a little better. You are brand new here and we welcome you, but without much history with you we are not sure where you are coming from in your remarks.